


Guinea Chat: Official Taste Tester

by thetikkiroom



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Cupcakes, Drabble, Eclairs, F/M, Gen, Gougéres, Marichat, Nobody expects adrienette, Now featuring some ladynoir, Platonic Marichat - Freeform, at least for now, surprise, taste testing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-01-03 21:41:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12155352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thetikkiroom/pseuds/thetikkiroom
Summary: When someone shouts your superhero name during patrol, you check out the source. When that someone asks you to taste test recipes... it becomes a sweet surprise. When aforementioned someone brings the best of those to your shared class... things may get sticky as you try to maintain your secret identity in the face of such innocent and pretty traps.But Chat Noir is a hero. With a sweet tooth, a heart of gold and a stomach of iron. But is his will to keep his most important secret also made of iron? Or is it made of batter?





	1. Let the Tests... Begin!

“CHAT NOIR!” The sudden call reverberating off of the brick and metalwork of the Parisian rooftops made Chat Noir fumble in midair before catching himself. Perplexed, he looked around frantically while trying to calm his racing heart to a less adrenaline-induced state. He finally spotted his friend, Marinette, waving her arms like a lunatic with a beaming grin. Hoisting himself to a position where he could launch himself over, he landed with a light tap just on the inside of the railing and bowed with a grin. 

“To what do I owe the pleasure and terror, Princess?” He grinned teasingly.

“I need a guinea cat,” she answered, steepling her hands with a strange look in her eyes behind them. “My parents wouldn’t work and it’s too late at night to call any of my friends and I just can’t wait until tomorrow to do this and-” Marinette broke for breath “-help me, Chat Noir Kenobi. You’re my only hope.”

Chat Noir burst out laughing. “How can I say no, Princess?!” he gasped out, hands on his knees.

She gave another beaming grin and did a fist pump. “Yessss,"she hissed lowly "stay here, I’m gonna go get it.” She hopped down to her room below while Chat evened out his breathing. Not long after Chat’s breathing had returned to normal for the second time in only a few minutes (so many emotions in one day, what would his father say?) Marinette returned, placing a tray of different colored cupcakes on the balcony before pulling herself through the skylight. Bringing the tray over to her guinea cat, she explained “I wanted to try making a new cupcake recipe to share with my friends at school. But I don’t want to make too many different flavors, so…” she thrust the tray closer to Chat’s watering mouth. You’ll probably need the extra calories jumping around those rooftops, right?“

Chat Noir grinned as he chose a cupcake. "I shall try to be a good guinea cat for you, Princess. What’s this one?” He asked, holding up his chosen treat.

“That one should be… chocolate with a matcha buttercream icing and a raspberry cream cheese filling.”

So it went, Chat would pick up a cupcake and Marinette would tell him what was in it before he took a bite.

“I think I’ll be rolling across Parisian rooftops rather than jumping across them, Princess,” he whined good-naturedly. “How did you come up with so many weird - but tasty - combos?! Some of those cupcakes finally made me understand the reactions to food in Shokugeki no Soma!”

She giggled and blushed at his earnest compliments. “I saw a lot of recipes online and requests over the years to develop some ideas of tweaks that might work. It makes me glad that most of them did seem to work out! So which ones did you like the best?” She asked excitedly.

“If I tell you, can I get some more the next time I’m patrolling?” He gave her a wicked grin.

“Maybe you won’t get to try any of the next batch if you don’t tell me.” Marinette deadpanned, the corners of her mouth lifting as Chat Noir panicked.

“No, no! I’ll tell you! The first one - chocolate/matcha/raspberry? - the vanilla/bergamot…? whatever one, the cinnamon/gingerbread thing from Christmas HEAVEN, and that-that flower one!”

Marinette breathed out a relieved sigh. “That flower cupcake was the hardest one to get right” she confessed. “But worth it if you think it’s one of the best 4!” She thrust both hands skyward in triumph. “If everything goes well at school with those flavors, you may just get some more to taste test, M. Noir.”

Chat groaned from his spot on her balcony chair. “My brain and stomach say ‘no’ but my heart and taste buds scream 'YYYYEEEEESSSSS’” Chat made his voice as demonic sounding as possible.

Marinette giggled from behind her hands that failed to stifle the noise as Chat chuckled at her reaction. “I thank you and your stomach for your great sacrifice” she made her voice ridiculously regal sounding “I apologize for any inconvenience my request may have caused you… and your suit. As this is a school night, I must beg you to make haste home. Though not at the expense of some poor pedestrian below, I pray.”

“Your highness,” Chat played along, forcing himself to his feet “although the pain in my heart at leaving thee tonight is greater than even the pain in my poor, blissful stomach, I will do as begged. For the chance to eat such delicacies is worth any pain to my weakling stomach.” He stepped away with an overly dramatic bow before leaping away carefully, Marinette’s laughs following him through the air where her shout had bounced around earlier that night.


	2. Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette starts bringing her cupcakes to school. How will they face off to her ravenous peers?

The first clue Adrien had to how difficult helping his friend out as his superhero persona came relatively quickly. It was when Marinette announced only a few days after he taste tested that she was asking her class to also help out. In retrospect, Adrien should've seen this coming. On the other hand, MORE CUPCAKES. His nutritionist would have his head on a pike if he knew what Adrien had gotten himself into. This nutritionist, however, could not account for "chat calories" burned (or consumed). So Adrien didn't feel too guilty. Adrien was suddenly grateful for all previous shoots that involved food being eaten. They would probably be his saving grace in keeping his alter ego a secret. As Marinette lifted the box to reveal-

 "London Fog cupcakes!" She proclaimed proudly. "Earl Grey tea, some bergamot oil, and some extra vanilla bean has been incorporated into the cupcake batter, and it's topped with a lavender cream cheese frosting! I've been experimenting with some recipes and would really like some feedback on some of them." 

Ooh, Adrien remembered this one. While tea in the batter sounded and looked strange, he couldn't argue with the results.

"Ewww. What are those black flecks?!" Came Chloé's voice from where she was watching Rose try a bite, her face scrunched up in disgust as she looked at Rose's bitten cupcake.

"That's loose leaf Earl Grey tea, Chloé," Marinette replied in a defensive and tired tone, "the idea was to have more flavor by putting the tea leaves in the batter. Then the flavor would be stronger as they baked. The small specks of black are the vanilla bean, rather than extract, to up the vanilla taste."

"These are so _good,_ dude!" Nino exclaimed next to Adrien, his mouth full of cupcake as he tried to wolf it down.

Marinette beamed, a light blush on her cheeks as she giggled at Adrien's over-the-top disgusted look at Nino. Nino noticed said look from Adrien and made a show of which Adrien was in the splash zone for.

Adrien guarded his unfinished cupcake, hissing at his best friend. He darted away, declaring that Nino would "never contaminate his precious" even as Nino tried to get around Adrien's defenses. In a desperate attempt to protect his cupcake, Adrien finally stuffed the remainder in his own mouth. Cheeks extending like a chipmunk's, he shot a smug look at Nino who merely finished his own mouthful.

The source of entertainment over, the rest of the class gave Marinette their input. By the time Adrien had emptied his mouth enough to talk everyone else had had their say. "This was really good, Marinette," he told her, "you should be proud of these." He gestured to the few remaining cupcakes.

"Thanks, Adrien," she replied with a breathy voice and blood-warmed cheeks. "Y-you can-can have another. If you want, that is!"

"Do I need to can-can to get the second, or may I just grab one without breaking out the heels? Because I've worn heels before. NOT a pretty picture."

Marinette snorted before Adrien's pleased grin made her laugh harder. "W-while I would LOVE to see you do high kicks, I'll let you off easy this time 'cause you're so cute- I MEAN - 'cause I'm that nice!"

Adrien deflated a little. "Aww nuts," he replied playfully, "and here I was hoping my model looks would be more useful than for selling expensive clothes."

Marinette didn't trust herself not to put her foot in her mouth (again) so she just gestured to the remaining cupcakes while avoiding looking at him. He thanked her and munched on his second (third) cupcake as he left the room.

* * *

 

Adrien _wanted_ to give his third cupcake to Ladybug, he really did! But between the amount of time it would be between now and then, he didn't trust Plagg not to get his gluttonous little paws on it (or to not give in to the temptation later himself) so Adrien happily ate yet another cupcake. Sure, he had felt more like rolling away than leaping after helping Marinette out last night, but that wouldn't stop him from having some more now! 

"Ooh, whatcha got there?" Came Plagg's voice from his jacket. "A gift from your Prrrrincess?" Plagg quickly took a bite of his own. "Blegh, too sweet. Hey! You should ask her to make a camembert cupcake next time! That way, I benefit from this too. Aaaand she gets the opinion from a real cheese connoisseur."

"You just want more camembert, Plagg," Adrien deadpanned as he tried to finish the cupcake before getting outside of the school.

"And your point is...?" 

"Apparently lost on you," Adrien gently pushed Plagg back under his over shirt and crumpled the (now empty) cupcake wrapper and tossed it into a nearby trashcan before exiting the front doors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! I did not expect such a positive response so quickly! It has been flooring to see the notes on tumblr and the kudos + comments on here just pile up! Thank you to everyone!
> 
> Also, it was really difficult to both write banter and keep the characters accurate, ADRIEN ¬_¬
> 
> Adrien would definitely love LOTR and if he existed there would be a Vanyar elf FIGHT ME (งಠ_ಠ)ง


	3. I Must Éclair My Love... For Pastries!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette's (mostly) tasty experiments continue. Her weapon of choice this time? Éclairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *walks in 2 months late with Starbucks* This story's not dead yet. But it looks like it actually has a path on where it's supposed to go. The story should be a max of 10 chapters, but until that last chapter is written I won't put up a final chapter count. Honestly, about half on this chapter was written the same day I posted the 2nd, but that's where I hit writer's block hard enough I think it broke my nose. BUT HERE IT IS.  
> Thank you SO much for your patience for this new chapter!

And so it continued. The matcha cupcakes were met with more initial skepticism, but Marinette was smart enough to do those on the third day. The flower cupcakes also raised a few eyebrows other than Chloé's, but Marinette's previously successful flavors encouraged everyone to at least try a bite. Marinette took every compliment and constructive criticism well, noting what people thought might improve them and especially took Nathaniel's artistic pointers about the decorations to heart. On the last day of the school week, Marinette informed the class that all of the flavors were now being sold (in limited supply) at her parent's bakery. Many other students asked her if she would do any more. 

"Maybe not cupcakes," she admitted, "I'd like to try experimenting with other pastries as well. I'll let you all try them before my parents start selling them, I promise! I have a couple of éclair ideas I'd like everyone's opinions on and I think those should be next."

Adrien mentally fist-pumped. She might ask him to stop during his patrol tonight! 

She, in fact, did not. It took until another Sunday night before Marinette would nearly shave off another of his nine lives. 

"If this keeps up, Princess," he said with his hands on his hips after landing in front of her on the balcony, "I'll be coming this way like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.**" 

Marinette cocked her head in confusion. 

"It's an American phrase. Means I'll be jumpy, and not just in the over-roofs-on-patrol kind of way, but in a paranoid “when will she shout?” kind of way.”

“Ah. Well, unless you can come up with a way for me to get your attention when you’re out on patrol that saves my lungs and your poor, fragile kitty heart, the yelling will stay. I don’t exactly have a chat signal for you." 

"A bit ostentatious, don't you think?"

"Then it should be right up your alley, alley cat."

"Touché, Princess, touché."

 "So, I have bite-size éclairs for you today. Even with all the "superheroing" you do, I can't imagine eating 5-10 full sized éclairs would be comfortable to eat at once." 

"Yeah, I wanted to just finish my patrol last time by rolling around Paris, but that would've just made me dizzy, and with an overly full stomach? No thanks!" Chat replied, grabbing the closest éclair, which had a honey-like sheen on top. "Honey and powdered sugar on top?" He asked.

"Yeah!" Marinette chirped excitedly. "With some more of the lavender-infused cream cheese for the filling. Lavender and honey seemed to be a popular combination online, and the powdered sugar was inspired by beignets."

 “Sounds almost as sweet as you, Prrrincess,” Chat smirked into his treat.

“Try it and see what you think, oh snarky one,” Marinette replied.

The éclair was the perfect size. Just big enough to give him the impact of flavor and only one bite worth. “Delicious as always, Princess, though I personally think a little less powdered sugar would actually be better for this. There’s already a bunch in the filling, right? So you really only need enough for show on the top, I think.”

“Yeah, but that can be hard to make evenly…” she said thoughtfully, her hand on her chin. “If we only need to do a light dusting… got it.” Marinette wrote her notes in her notebook and gave the signal for the next éclair.

As soon as Chat picked up the next one Marinette explained how it was filled with a strawberry mousse.

“It was easy enough to fill this little éclair with it,” she told him while looking at the treat in his hand, “but the bigger ones may be difficult to do the same thing with. If they are, we may do a few different fruit mousse flavors and keep them at a mini size.”

“That could be popular with little kids. That sounds like a great idea, regardless of if you try making them at normal size or not.” Chat popped the éclair into his mouth and had to hold back what would’ve been a _very_ inappropriate moan of appreciation. As soon as he was done, Chat blurted “I need, like, 300 of those.”

Marinette giggled as she wrote again in her journal. Chat waited politely for her to finish before gripping her bent knees, leaning in close and saying “ _Éclair_ ly, you don’t believe me.”

“Rude. I wrote in your order,” Marinette rolled her eyes as she turned the notebook to face him. There, too close to his face, was the large, underlined, and circled note of ‘300 mini sm/ch for (=ↀωↀ=)’. “But it’ll look suspicious if I say I already have an order before they’re released.”

“And if I come in to order that many later then my secret id would be blown and you’d be blown away by my alter ego.”

“I thought the alter ego is supposed to be the mild-mannered one.”

“Oh, it is. I’m just that awesome in or out of the suit.” Chat winked at Marinette.

“The only reason I’m not rolling my eyes at you is because I don’t want them to get stuck there,” she glared.

“Boo. You’re no fun.”

“Just eat another éclair, you doof.”

“Your wish is my command, mlle.”

 

* * *

 For those who were unfamiliar with the American phrase Chat used:

**The phrase “more nervous (or jumpier) than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs refers to how scared a long-tailed cat would be of getting its tail caught under the leg of a rocking chair. So, understandably, a room full of them would have a cat with an easily-catchable tail ready to run to protect itself. It's a very rural phrase.

 

 


	4. Mewtinous Meowth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat gets more éclairs than even he can eat. Good thing he has a partner who could also enjoy some delicious goodies!

Chat was right about the mini éclairs. Of course he was. But not only did they fly off of the shelves after primaire schools let out, they had a hard time keeping them in stock all day long. 

 

Several of Marinette’s classmates came to get some after school and, due to the school’s proximity, were able to have more options. At least until the mothers of the younger children figured out they should come  _ before _ they picked up their kids. Which led to Marinette’s classmates full-on  _ sprinting _ to her parent’s bakery. Kim and Alix in particular could get pretty nasty when they got out of the front doors. (Although it gave Marinette no small amount of entertainment to watch them if the crosswalk light was stubbornly red.) 

 

Chat came by Marinette’s balcony a few days after the éclairs’ release in order to brainstorm ways to get him his desired sweets. He hoped they wouldn't raise her parents’ suspicion nor endanger his secret identity and he steadfastly insisted on paying for such a large order. 

 

“Maybe I should have someone else place the order under their name,” was so far the best idea. 

 

“You could,” Marinette conceded, “but you might run the risk of your middle-man using your real name or me slipping and giving you away to them. Either way, you’d be exposed.”

 

“I think I have a way around that,” Chat replied, but did not elaborate.

 

Marinette was flabbergasted when the middle- _ woman _ then was revealed as  _ Alya _ . 

 

“I’d like to put in an order for 300 assorted mini éclairs,” Alya stated to Sabine, who looked perplexed, but dutifully wrote down the order and worked out a delivery time. “Put the order under my name. And I'd like to pay in cash now.” 

 

Ok, so Alya was someone he knew in costume and, if asked of her, was indeed a fantastic secret keeper. Plus she'd jump at the chance to help a hero out, even with such a mundane task as getting him enough pastries to feed a regiment. 

 

Although the temptation to hound her best friend about the true patron was baiting Marinette, she continued to listen to her head and not ask Alya. Just in case Chat had approached her as a civilian. 

 

Ok, so maybe  _ literally _ biting her tongue was not the best idea….

 

* * *

  
  


Ladybug was a little more worn out than usual when she showed up for patrol a few nights later. After completing “Alya’s” order and the increasing popularity of her treats, Marinette didn't even have the energy to try out more new recipes. Yawning as she waited for Chat Noir to show up, she took the opportunity to rest her weary eyes and laid down on the roof.

 

“May I join you in your cat nap, Milady?” she heard near her head. “You look pretty snug, Bug.”

 

Ladybug cracked her eyes open to look unamusedly at Chat, who was grinning in a manner far too proud of himself. She merely closed her eyes, huffed, and curled in tighter. “Don't wake me until spring,” she said. 

 

“You want to sleep for almost a year, LB?” Chat chuckled, lowering himself to sit next to her. “That's a shame, ‘cause I brought a gift tonight.” 

 

“So help me, if it’s a dead animal or a leaf-”

 

“No, no!” Chat interjected quickly. “It’s actual human food. But you can't have any if you're going to hibernate.”

 

Groaning, Ladybug propped herself back up to look at Chat Noir, holding her hands out to him expectantly. 

 

“There you go,” Chat said warmly, putting a mini éclair in her outstretched hands from a box marked with her family’s bakery logo. “My friend and her family made these. I ordered 300 because of a joke I made, but even I'm having a hard time eating that many. Plus, I've been wanting to sneak you one of her creations for a while.” Chat put one of his hands to scratch at his neck, a habit Ladybug had noticed was a nervous tick (however rare it was).

 

“Oh, a  _ girl  _ friend?” Ladybug inquired, mentally kicking herself for every word coming out of her dorkasaurus mouth. “Is she cute?” Apparently the rest of Ladybug’s body was in on her mouth’s mutiny, because she elbowed him in the ribs playfully when her brain was screaming for her traitorous body to  _ stop _ .

 

“She’s a friend who’s a  _ girl _ , yes,” Chat rolled his eyes. “Honestly, I have no idea why she chose me to try her creations, but since I’m getting a bunch of sugar I’m not gonna complain.” Chat grinned at Ladybug. 

 

They ate in silence for a short while before Chat broke it. “Hey, LB? My kwami has actually been bugging me about asking my friend to make some cheese-related breads or pastries, particularly if they contain Camembert. On a scale of one to ten, how rude do you think it would be to ask her for them?” He asked before stage whispering behind a hand. “Please say a higher number, Plagg keeps on insisting it’s not rude or it doesn’t matter and I need a second reasonable voice to tell him no.” 

 

Ladybug tried VERY hard not to snort éclair from her nose. And nearly ended up choking on it. “I actually side with Plagg on this one,” she grinned at him, already making ideas in her head, “the only actual problem I see is how to let him try the food without taking it away or revealing yourself to your girlfriend.”  _ Shut up. Shut up. SHUT UP. _

 

Chat groaned. “Ugh. Not you too!” His voice became slightly whiny and… was that a  _ blush  _ peeking out from under his mask? “Plagg already calls her my girlfriend. Can’t I just have a friend who’s a girl?!” 

 

“Not if she feeds you for free.”  _ Who is hijacking my mouth and how do I make it stop?! If I find Tikki’s somehow doing this... _

 

“Maybe she needed a secret taste tester so her class would get only the best ones?!” Chat’s voice sounded on the edge of cracking from panic from where it came behind his hands hiding his face. “Maybe I look more starved than I thought and she took pity on me the first night, I don’t know!”

 

“Relax,  _ Chaton _ , I’m just teasing,” Ladybug elbowed him gently in the ribs. “It’s this thing friends do. You know, to show they like each other. By making them as uncomfortable as possible. The worse it is the better the friendship.”  _ FINALLY. _

 

Chat peeked one eye out from behind his hands. “This is animal abuse. Not friendship.” 

 

“Oh, my sweet summer  _ minou _ ,” Ladybug patted his head. “In the interest of keeping you from turning into a tomato, I’ll stop. For now.”

 

“What did I do to deserve this?” Chat’s voice squeaked.

 

Ladybug giggled before standing up. “I wasn’t kidding about doing what your kwami asked, Chat Noir. If you can figure out a way to detransform without her seeing, there shouldn’t be any problems. Maybe use a blanket and make yourself into a cat burrito.”

 

“A purrito!” Chat finally released his face to laugh. “Oh man, I have to remember that. Are you sure she won’t mind?” Chat turned his attention back to Ladybug. “I’d hate to impose a request when she’s already giving me free food…. Especially for a gluttonous kwami.” 

 

Ladybug smiled. “Maybe she’ll enjoy the challenge. Or at least the chance to continue feeding one of Paris’ heroes.”

 

“You know, it’s funny that I ended up being her taste tester.” Chat said pensively. “Because I get the fortune of eating my favorites twice.”


	5. Dairy Important Business Negotiations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Encouraged by LB, Chat goes to visit a princess. She alone holds the key to thwarting the greedy Plagg in her hands.

_“I get the fortune of eating my favorites twice.”_

 

Okay, Marinette, all he meant was that he could come buy them later.

 

_But then why would it be funny that HE was my taste tester?_

 

Unless-

 

Marinette derailed her train of thought before it could get into anymore dangerous waters.

 

 _He just meant buying. He just meant buying._ Became Marinette’s only thought on broken record, in order to keep herself on task. Since that wasn’t working, Marinette instead tried to remember what Chat had instead pondered for his kwami.

 

“Cheese. Camembert, if possible. But maybe some others for variety? Maybe when he asks I’ll remember to ask Chat what cheese he likes. But what if he doesn’t or he’s lactose intolerant? Maybe he’ll be so offended I asked him about cheese and will stop coming over. And then he’ll somehow figure out I’m Ladybug and will cut off our partnership and then Hawkmoth will get both our miraculouses because I’ll have to fight Chat who went darkside and-”

 

“Marinette!” Tikki swooped in in front of Marinette’s face. “I think you need to do something else. The pastries will still be here, but I think you need to walk away and calm down. Chat won’t get offended even if he hates cheese or is lactose intolerant because you’re planning on asking him for a preference. If you made something without consulting him and he couldn’t or wouldn’t eat it he still wouldn’t hate you because you would’ve done it in a misguided sense of kindness. Did he mention any allergies or intolerances when he ate the cupcakes?”

 

Marinette racked her memories. “No?”

 

“Then the only problem should be if he doesn’t like cheese. Which, having Plagg as his kwami, is entirely possible,” Tikki mused. “But you should still ask him. Maybe he doesn’t like cheese, but he’ll think of something else while Plagg gorges.”

 

“You’re right Tikki,” Marinette patted her head. “Thanks.” Marinette faced her notebook again. “So what could I do that could use different kinds of cheeses…?”

 

While cheese danishes and cheesecake sounded fitting for a patisserie, Marinette wanted to do something unique and eventually decided on gougères. “Usually gougères use gruyere and nutmeg, but if Plagg prefers Camembert we may need to try different spices,” she said.

 

This new project so engulfed Marinette that she almost didn't hear Chat’s polite knocking on her skylight. Hoisting herself onto the balcony, she had a hard time reconciling the nervous boy on her balcony to her vivacious partner. In a poor attempt to lighten the mood Marinette said “I hope the great Chat Noir didn't come to my balcony just to cough up a furball. Because hero or not, there will be dire consequences if there's a wad of blond hair up here.” She winked to show him she was teasing.

 

“I’ve only coughed up a furball once!” Chat exclaimed, already relaxing back into his regular mannerisms. “And it was from grooming Ladybug after an akuma interrupted her unnecessary beauty rest, her poor pigtails were all lopsided!”

 

Not expecting his response, Marinette choked on her spit as she laughed. “She-” she coughed, “she must- must’ve been- _exhausted_ if she- let you groom- her hair by licking it!”

 

“It wasn’t until then that I realized ladybugs might be closely related to bed bugs,” he nodded in a faux sagely manner. “Whenever my lady was obviously woken up to deal with an akuma, I feel like watching the fight rather than helping. Partially to watch Ladybug - which is always welcome - but also to keep out of her grouchy buggy way.”

 

Marinette smiled at him.

 

“Speaking of grouches, someone asked me to request something of you. You can say no, in fact, I’d rather you did, but this someone asked me to ask you if you’d be willing to make some cheese-related breads or pastries.”

 

“Someone?” Marinette asked, trying to play the part of the unwitting civilian well. “You told this someone about this-?”

 

“It was unavoidable,” he deadpanned. “I have a… little shoulder devil, you could say, who loves cheese to a ridiculous degree. Like I said, I don’t want to bother you with requests if-”

 

“That’s… actually perfect,” she interjected, “I’m already working on some things that aren’t sweet, since not everyone can eat a lot of sugar. Did your… shoulder devil have any cheese suggestions?”

 

Chat’s look of utter horror and betrayal would keep Marinette akuma-free for _months_.

 

“You’re not supposed to _encourage_ him! You’re supposed to say: ‘no, Chat, I have too many of my own experiments to possibly squeeze in anything with cheese for at least a few months!’ _Don’t encourage the shoulder devil_.” Marinette was impressed with Chat’s vocal range, going from a hilariously terrible falsetto attempt at Marinette’s voice to the comically demonic growl afterward.

 

“It’s not my fault he has good timing,” she said. “Now, what cheeses?”

 

“Hold on, Princess,” Chat held his hand up, “there’s something you don’t know about this shoulder devil. He can’t appear when I’m Chat Noir, and I’m not always a super-mega-ultra _cat_ astrophic babe. If we do this for him, there have to be safety measures for my secret identity. A blanket you can’t see through would be fine. But just for the sake of officialness, I need your word you won’t try to peek at my mild-mannered alter ego.” Chat held out his pinky finger, which Marinette automatically hooked her own around.

 

“Okay, _now_ can I know which cheeses to use? I wanted to make gougères, just to experiment.”

 

“Camembert is his favorite cheese. That probably won’t be as popular to use for the bakery, but he’ll be thrilled if he can eat some with Camembert.”

 

“Duly noted,” Marinette said. “What about you? Do you want some too?”

 

“And risk getting bitten? Not a chance. But if you want to make me something, I would be happy with anything without cheese. I don’t want to risk having my own cheese with that glutton, he’ll bite my hand off if it’s in the wrong place at the wrong time. Especially if cheese is concerned.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus:
> 
> "You won Plagg, Marinette said she'd make you some gougères. Some of them will probably even have Camembert."
> 
> "I knew Princess would see it my way. Cheese is the best thing on this earth. She'll be thanking me when that little bakery is rolling in the dough and forget all about you."
> 
> "Did you just pun?"
> 
> "...I will bite your hand off."
> 
> _____________________________
> 
> Worry not, dear readers! There may or may not be a reveal coming soon to an Archive near you!


	6. Queso of the Moving Box

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Plagg's turn!

Marinette set about making different gougéres, trying different spices and cheeses (she was not, personally, a fan of Camembert and star anise together). Even in such small doses, Marinette still marvelled at how little spice it took to affect an entire batch. Finally, Marinette had her selections ready for Plagg (and some treats for Chat).

The next night Chat Noir had solo patrol, Marinette went onto her balcony to flag him down. Eyes scanning the skyline of Paris lit by humans and moon alike, she almost tumbled to her doom from hearing his voice come from behind her. “The princess in the tower deigns to light the stars with her visage? This must truly be a blessed night. Especially since I didn’t almost get a heart attack,” he grinned at her, jumping down from a chimney to the balcony.

“So you decide to give me one instead?!” Marinette replied, hand on her heart and the other clutching the railing. “How noble of you.”

“Ah, but I never claimed to be a noblecat, Princess. Sadly, somehow I am graced with the fortune of often being in the presence of nobility, but do not possess a title.”

Blushing, Marinette threw the blanket she had brought up to protect Chat Noir’s identity at his face. (She gleefully noticed it wrapped itself around, increasing his struggles to remove it). Once Chat had safely untangled himself only to use his would-be strangler as a shield, he detransformed.

“I smell CAMEMBERRRT!!” Marinette jumped in surprise as a tiny black blob phased ( _MAN, that’s creepy! And she_ has _a kwami!_ ) through the blanket followed by Chat’s indignant “Hey!”

“So this is the ah… ‘shoulder devil’ you spoke of?” Marinette asked, sliding Chat’s tray of treats under a lifted piece of the blanket. “He looks kinda like a kitten.”

“”I’m NOT a kitten nor a shoulder devil. Though of the two the ‘shoulder devil’ sounds more accurate and somewhat less degrading.” Plagg paused in his process of selecting his treats. “I’ll let it slide this time because you’re giving me cheese.”

Marinette stowed away the implications of being able to bribe Plagg with cheese in a corner of her brain. “I also tried to make some of the gougéres with other types of flour, such as almond and coconut, as a gluten-free option, since that’s popular with some people. Especially some tourists.”

Chat’s voice came grumpily from beneath his blanket cover sounding further muffled as though he still had food in his mouth. “If tourists want to stay on their precious diets, they shouldn’t come to places like Paris where the land flows with bread, wine, cheese, and _butter_. What’s the point of spending money to come to a foreign place if you just end up eating at the places you’re familiar with and the dishes you can get at home?”

Marinette giggled, “And that’s why Parisians are so cold to American tourists.”

“Pricks,” came his further muffled reply. (Marinette assumed he had taken a new bite.)

“So ‘Princess’,” came Plagg’s voice from the table. “What did you add to this cheddar gougére?”

“Turmeric! I wanted to see if adding turmeric would add not only to the color of the gougére, but also work with the sharpness of the cheddar.Plus turmeric has been a really popular spice lately.”

Plagg finished his sample and moved on to the next one. “Is this… Jarlsberg… and cardamom?”

“Wow. How did you guess that right? That’s exactly what’s in it.”

“My keen sense of smell is legendary among my kind.” Plagg preened.

“Which is amazing,” came Chat’s dry response, “when your taste in cheeses should indicate a lack of working smell receptors.”

“You just don’t appreciate the finer things in life. You waste your time on _Ladybug_.”

“Oh no, I appreciate my partner, what a travesty.”

Marinette giggled, trying to hide her blushing cheeks from the kwami she knew recognized her. (She’d have to thank him for not outing her identity to Chat later). “Are you two always like this or am I just lucky?”

“Always,” came the tandem reply.

 

* * *

 

Once Marinette had gotten Plagg’s feedback and Chat was once more transformed, Marinette thought back to the one time he’d had his hand out from underneath the blanket. She’d held Chat Noir’s hands plenty of times while in costume, but this time Marinette saw his ungloved hand. A hand she’d only touched bare once. She wasn’t able to see it, or anything else, at the time. Today, however, Marinette had seen a little more of her partner. How he acted around his kwami, how he behaved when he wasn’t in front of a crowd or anyone to impress.

Everytime Marinette caught a glimpse of the boy beneath the bravado, she found new pieces to his true personality. Kind, a people-pleaser, even romantic. She hoped his friends in his civilian life fully appreciated her partner. Otherwise, she’d have to kick some civilian butt.

 

* * *

 

Even with Plagg’s help Marinette had a difficult time deciding which gougéres to use. Chat had said Plagg’s tastes weren’t very conventional with human tastes (and Tikki had confirmed). So Marinette decided to ask her class to narrow down the options. So as everyone returned from lunch a few days later, Marinette brought a selection that used fewer strong cheeses.

“You might try to use the curry spice with some milder cheeses, or at least a milder cheddar. I like what the two combined do to the color, though.” Alya said.

Marinette enjoyed regaling her tale of woe of her efforts to make a dessert gougéres. “The closest I got used mascarpone cheese with espresso, to make a tiramisu type. Long story short, it was a nightmare to clean up. Cheeses like brie and camembert were also really hard to figure out. I figured the harder cheeses would work the best.”

Afternoon classes passed normally, until Marinette caught her box of leftover samples by her desk _move_. Heart beating, Marinette used the next break to quickly take the box outside to let the mouse out humanely.

Instead, Marinette found herself staring at Plagg’s green eyes when she opened the box.

“Hi, bug.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long. These past few months have had quite a lot of action, but honestly, I couldn't figure out just how I wanted some of these scenes to go. I've started chapter 7 and it should only be a few more chapters at this point. Thank you so much for your patience and encouragement!


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